- Michael Chandler was quizzed to pick between Conor McGregor or a title fight
- “Iron” is open to fighting McGregor in Ireland
Michael Chandler is well aware that he’s stunning KO win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 274 has become his ticket to a title shot. However, with Conor McGregor hinting at a potential showdown, “Iron” admitted that he wouldn’t say no to it.
Conor now, title next
When asked to pick between McGregor or UFC gold, Chandler explained that if he is to decide for his next fight, it would be a scrap with “The Notorious.” For “Iron,” he is already on the same footing as the Irish MMA superstar and it’s only proper for the fight to happen.
Chandler is also not worried about getting his run for the title derailed as he’s confident about beating the former UFC two-division champ.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to sit here and act like it’s up to me okay. That’s what’s hard,” Chandler told Bussin’ With The Boys. “If I got to call it, I would say right now [it’s] Conor because, only because I think never has been somebody who’s like a frontrunner “I feel like I’m the frontrunner right now, I could be the frontrunner. I’m exciting, I got the hype, I got the people behind me, I got the knockouts, I got the hillbilly fights with Gaethje, I got the callout.”
“People can see me on the mic and they know there’s going to be some verbal jiu-jitsu going on there on the microphones, me and him going back at it, respectively, of course, on my side at least,” he continued. …”I think I’m on the cusp of being the guy who’s in the conversation with Conor and very few people get in the conversation with Conor. There you have to take it a little more seriously or put a little bit more weight in that. I still think I beat Conor, I’m fighting next for the title anyway. Nothing is guaranteed, this sport moves quickly. Who knows.”
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A war in the “enemy territory”
The 36-year-old is so ecstatic about taking on McGregor that he even sees himself beating “Mystic Mac” in his home soil.
“I think it’s called Croke Park or something, there is a big stadium out there [in Ireland], that they have talked about doing, Croke Park or something like that,” he said. “That would be awesome too, I would love to go into enemy territory.”
With McGregor and Chandler both down to fight, it’s interesting to see how things will shape up in the lightweight division, considering a host of top contenders have their own targets. Islam Makhachev is already eyeing a title fight with Charles Oliveira, while Dustin Poirier is now open to fighting Nate Diaz.
